Ludo Lefebvre's Korean Steak Recipe Is Everything We Could Ever Want

Chef Ludo Lefebvre is back with the latest installment of Ludo à la Maison, and this time, he’s tackling a classic Korean steak dish: Galbi (or Kalbi) steak with burnt eggplant purée. Lefebvre explains that what makes this dish so special is the crust that forms on the steak while it’s cooking. The resulting dish is so tasty that the chef even forgets about the cameras while he's eating it.

When you add the meat (he uses hanger steak) into your marinade, make sure the bowl containing the marinade is sitting over an ice bath. Otherwise, the steak will cook. Once you've tossed the meat into the cooled marinade, you can place it in the refrigerator, where it should sit for at least four hours.

Before placing the steak on the pan to sear (the chef uses a sizzle platter), dab it on a paper towel for a few seconds to shed some of the marinade. Making sure the meat isn't too wet, plus using a "very, very hot" pan, will leave you with that charred exterior. When you cut the steak before serving it, you should be able to hear “the crack of the charred meat.”

Finally, to make sure each side is sufficiently crispy, you want to make sure each side has the same amount of contact with the pan: "50/50," Lefebvre says, flipping the steak halfway through.

And here's a bonus tip from the dish:

The best way to cook eggplant, Lefebvre says, is by resting it directly onto the burner. First, you poke holes in the flesh to help it cook all the way through. Then, you simply lay the eggplant onto the burner, letting the flame char it through direct contact.